The nor’easter that was expected to bury the city with as much as 2 feet of snow is probably going to leave a still respectable but far less debilitating maximum of 8 inches, forecasters said.

The 24-hour blizzard warning for New York City and Long Island was canceled at 8 a.m. and replaced with a winter weather advisory that will be in effect until 8 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.

The expected accumulation is expected to be between 4 to 8 inches as the snow changes to sleet and then rain by midday, the weather service said.

“Mother Nature is an unpredictable lady sometimes,” Gov. Cuomo said at a morning press conference. “She was unpredictable once again today. All the forecasts said the storm would hit New York City and Long Island the heaviest, although it would affect the entire state.”

But the weather system shifted west into the path of the Southern Tier and Binghamton, where up to 30 inches of snow were still expected.

Thousands of pieces of equipment and about 2,000 members of the National Guard were redeployed to those areas in light of the latest developments, Cuomo said.

“The warning is we have to watch the temperatures as we go through the day and the night because the precipitation could turn into ice and it could make the morning commute more difficult,” he said. “It’s easier to move snow than ice.”

Despite the lower accumulation projections, Metro-North Railroad service was shut down at noon because of significant snowfall and high wind in the service area across the Hudson Valley, he said.

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A transit official told The Post earlier Tuesday: “There might be less snow in the city, but not anywhere else. The Hudson Valley is getting hit really hard, and it’s not safe for trains to run when it’s snowing this hard.”

MTA spokeswoman Beth DeFalco said it was not possible to provide rail service to interim points along the northward routes.

“There is no schedule for that and it’s confusing for customers,” she told The Post. “And you have to be able to turn trains — tracks don’t work where you can stop anywhere and go in both directions.”

Bus service was available across all five boroughs.

Adonna McCoy, 49, was bundled up in a coat, hat, scarf and thick gloves but still was stung by the cold as she made her way home to Cambria Heights in Queens.

She had just missed the Q4 bus was waiting close to 40 minutes for the next one.

“I tried to flag the bus down,” she said in frustration. “I ran in the street so he could see me. In weather like this, he could show some compassion, he could have stopped. That makes me angry.”

Below ground, subways also remained operational but above-ground service was suspended.

“Many people have heeded (Cuomo’s) caution to stay off the roads and not travel so we are seeing significantly reduced ridership this morning, which is a good thing,” MTA chief Veronique Hakim said at the press conference.

The Long Island Rail Road is on regular service, officials said.

“The railroads are seeing very significant low ridership. Literally, 10 to 15 percent of what we would normally see on a weekday,” Hakim said.

The George Washington Bridge, Lincoln and Holland tunnels and the Staten Island bridges are all open.

The GWB has a 35 mph speed restriction and the Staten Island bridges have a 25 mph speed restriction.

The Port Authority Bus Terminal is open but commuter and long-haul carriers have cancelled all service from the facility until further notice. PATH is operating on a normal weekday schedule.

JFK, La Guardia and Newark Liberty airports also remained open but airlines canceled a total about 3,000 flights at the three of them, officials said.

“We expect that number to grow during the day,” Port Authority chief Pat Foye said. “Departing passengers tomorrow and Thursday, at LaGuardia and JFK, should not go to the airport unless you’ve got a reservation.”

AccuWeather meteorologist Mike Leseney said “thermodynamics pushed warmer air aloft and that changed the nature of the precipitation.”

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“It is snow mixing with sleet, which is going to help keep down the snowfall amount,” he said.

The precipitation – a wind-swept mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain – will end between 5 and 7 p.m. as temperatures remain between 26 and 32 degrees throughout the day, Leseney added.

Sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph will continue buffeting the region – along with gusts of up to 60 mph, especially near the shore, Leseney said.

The rain is expected to turn back to snow before ending Tuesday evening.

A wind advisory also is in effect until 6 p.m. Winds from the northeast will be about 23 to 35 mph, with gusts of up to 50 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

In Westchester County and central New Jersey, snow accumulations of between 10 to 18 inches are expected. Eastern Long Island and southern New Jersey should only get about 6 inches.

In New Jersey, all NJ Transit bus and Access Link service were suspended. All but one rail line is operating on a weekend schedule. The Atlantic City Rail Line is operating on a regular weekday schedule.

Amtrak also canceled and modified service up and down the Northeast Corridor.

There is no Acela Express service between New York City and Boston, and there will be modified Acela Express service between New York City and Washington, DC.

In addition, the Northeast Regional service between Boston and Washington is running on a modified schedule, with some trains truncated or canceled, including some trains that operate in Virginia.